The Independent Schools of the Year awards 2025, brought to you by the team at Independent School Parent magazine, are now well-established. As the independent school sector’s leading awards programme, they secure the winners the national and international recognition which drives an enhanced public profile and a surge in enquiries from prospective parents at a time when this is much needed

The focus of the 2025 awards will be to celebrate the demonstrable benefits of an independent school education and showcase the innovative, caring and life-enhancing student experience which pupils in our schools receive.

At a time when the sector is facing some of the greatest domestic, geo-political and economic challenges it has encountered in decades, we believe that the 2025 awards will provide an unbeatable platform for schools to celebrate and promote all they are achieving in the many and varied areas of school life.

Last year we introduced a new award for the Use of Educational Technology which is designed to showcase how widely – and innovatively – ‘Ed Tech’ is being deployed in our schools. Educational Technology has become a vital part of schools’ educational programmes and massively enhances the learning experience of our students. Additionally, we launched the award for Best School Trip of the Year, celebrating the importance of travel and service in students’ educational experience. We were delighted with the number of entries received for both awards in their first year and they are now firmly part of our programme.

For 2025, we are introducing three new UK-wide regional awards which will sit alongside The London Independent School of the Year award which is now well established. These awards are designed to celebrate the compelling and diverse nature of our school communities and the student experience they offer, often mirroring the characteristics of the area of the UK in which they are located.

There are 25 award categories in all; each has been tailored to capture and highlight stories of the great work being undertaken across our school communities. The Independent Schools of the Year 2025 awards will celebrate all that students, staff and wider school communities have achieved during the 2024-25 academic year.

Delivering and supporting student excellence lies at the heart of each award and we hope that they will give our schools the opportunity to tell us what they have achieved as a broad-based community. We hope that the task of preparing and articulating their entries will give colleagues the chance to look up from the immediate day-to-day pressures and celebrate their awesome contribution to preparing their students for their future lives.

The stories of our winners – who will be announced in the autumn – will be shared and celebrated across the Independent School Parent portfolio and the Chelsea Magazine Company platforms. Independent education has always been, and remains despite the critics, one of the UK’s greatest traditions. Let’s not be backwards in coming forward and trumpeting our schools’ achievements from the rooftops at a time when our politicians and opinion-formers should be left in no doubt about our important role in national life.

So, send us your entries, tell us your individual stories and make sure your school is part of independent education’s overall story of excellence and resilience.

David Moncrieff

Chair, Editorial Advisory Board, Independent School Parent